Live data from Hacker News

The internet isn't dying, it's changing

coryd.dev

31–40 of 83 posts

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#31
post #2

When people say "the internet is dying" (and really, they mean "the web", not "the internet"), they don't mean it will cease to exist. They mean that it's changing in a way that makes it increasingly worse for them. "Dying" is an appropriate analogy because if the decline gets far enough, it may as well not exist to those people who are affected. At least, this is what I mean when I say the web is dying. Most of it i…

I think the internet, as in the ability for arbitrary attached hosts to communicate using global addresses and properly formatted layer 3 messages, has been under attack for quite some time - and reachability isn't getting any better

but yes, that's not what people normally mean.

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#32
post #4
post #2

When people say "the internet is dying" (and really, they mean "the web", not "the internet"), they don't mean it will cease to exist. They mean that it's changing in a way that makes it increasingly worse for them. "Dying" is an appropriate analogy because if the decline gets far enough, it may as well not exist to those people who are affected. At least, this is what I mean when I say the web is dying. Most of it i…

"He's not dying, it's his body just rapidly decomposing and ceasing to support the so called homeostasis, yes, but calling it 'death' is a misnomer". No, sorry, if it looks like a rotten corpse, smells like a rotten corpse...

The MAU of the internet continues to grow. How is it a corpse when it hasn't even reached its peak yet?

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#33
You see much lamentation from older technical folks who came of age in the 80s and 90s and fondly remember the old internet. It is odd because all their complaints are almost entirely just about a couple social networks. Certainly facebook and twitter are dying. That seems like a really good thing to me but perspectives may vary.

I find myself wishing more and more that AI would hurry up and kill facebook and google, then we could get back outside and start guiding the growth of the internet as a global community as opposed to a couple silicon valley megacorps deciding what everyone sees every day.

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#35
post #2

When people say "the internet is dying" (and really, they mean "the web", not "the internet"), they don't mean it will cease to exist. They mean that it's changing in a way that makes it increasingly worse for them. "Dying" is an appropriate analogy because if the decline gets far enough, it may as well not exist to those people who are affected. At least, this is what I mean when I say the web is dying. Most of it i…

> "Dying" is an appropriate analogy because if the decline gets far enough, it may as well not exist to those people who are affected.

We need to start saying it the way we feel reluctant to do:

    The Internet is getting exponentially shittier. 

    SEO-prioritization and poorly-regulated access to AI content generation are some of the emerging methods that help it get worse.

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A basic test is to ask how quickly you can find information about a topic that is unbiased by commercial interests. On some topics it's nearly impossible: - medicine - cosmetics - cooking/nutrition/recipes For many other topics, it's only really possible by finding forums where people who are not blog spammer discuss things. This used to be possible by appending "reddit" to a search term, but this is getting harder a…

There are other search engines than google. I really have no problem finding what Im looking for except when I use google.

Genuine question - this isn't some "gotcha" sarcastic comment - but what search engines do you use that are an actual improvement? The only one I know is Marginalia, which I love, but is more of a discovery tool for old sites than for actual relevant information.

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#37

The internet is dying. All hail the new islandnet powered by AI. In all seriousness, the open web is under siege too. Hosting choices dwindled. Cloud providers few. Dark web isn’t the answer. Decentralized isn’t either (the web is already decentralized). We need legislation that protects humans and not corporations . Common carrier. Fair privacy law. Following privacy laws. And ending the piracy of content for the sa…

Humans were made second class netizens when ISPs made self hosting very difficult for individuals. While self-hosting doesn’t solve everything (and introduces its own problems) it does place control of content in the hands of people hosting it.

Facebook, reddit, and the rest should be protocols that your server can speak. You can allow/deny access on your terms.

But instead we ended up putting our stuff on other people’s computers and they went and blabbed it all over the internet.

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A basic test is to ask how quickly you can find information about a topic that is unbiased by commercial interests. On some topics it's nearly impossible: - medicine - cosmetics - cooking/nutrition/recipes For many other topics, it's only really possible by finding forums where people who are not blog spammer discuss things. This used to be possible by appending "reddit" to a search term, but this is getting harder a…

There are other search engines than google. I really have no problem finding what Im looking for except when I use google.

Google created the situation, but it's not the reason why data is held behind login/pay-walls everywhere across the net.

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#39

The internet is dying. All hail the new islandnet powered by AI. In all seriousness, the open web is under siege too. Hosting choices dwindled. Cloud providers few. Dark web isn’t the answer. Decentralized isn’t either (the web is already decentralized). We need legislation that protects humans and not corporations . Common carrier. Fair privacy law. Following privacy laws. And ending the piracy of content for the sa…

I'm thinking of creating a site where user signup is limited to specific top level domains, like edu, gov mil, to stop bots and low quality content

Re: The internet isn't dying, it's changing

#40
You know what was great about the early web.

You had to have something going on between your ears to contribute. The gate was kept by brains.

X, FB, Reddit... prime example of what happens when you let monkeys loose with typewriters.

There are plenty of good parts of the web. There are still forms and communities where smart people are doing their own thing. GO look at communities around Home Lab, Home automation/Home assistant... The Linux kernel is still getting built on the back of a mailing list, and there are plenty of rich communities around the whole eco system.

The web is still great you just have to look for your corner of it.

Post reply on HN